Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Dick Roche, to the House. I hope his speech will be widely distributed in the coming days because it was a tremendous report on developments in the European Union and the benefits of the Lisbon reform treaty. I also compliment Senator Donohoe on his excellent, off-the-cuff contribution which laid out the precise position.

The enhanced role which will be played by national parliaments under the Lisbon treaty is an aspect of the text which has been somewhat neglected in the debate of recent weeks. The report by the Joint Committee on European Scrutiny, an excellent and thorough presentation of the proposals in this regard, presents the proposals in a manner which will be easy to follow for all interested parties. I compliment the committee Chairman, Deputy John Perry, Vice Chairman, Deputy Seán Connick, its members, including me, and Mr. Ronan Gargan, the adviser to the committee, on the publication of the document. I am also pleased that my proposal to publish it in printed form was accepted. I compliment the staff of the Oireachtas printing press on the excellent quality of their work on behalf of Oireachtas Members. This is one of the first times the in-house printing press has printed a document on behalf of the Oireachtas. I hope the text will be widely distributed.

I compliment the Minister of State on undertaking in his contribution to the joint committee to make provision in law to ensure compliance with the provisions of the treaty relating to national parliaments. As he noted, the powers of the Seanad under the treaty will be stronger than its powers under the Constitution. All sides of the political spectrum, including those who oppose and support the Lisbon treaty, have been democratically elected to the House.